Chapter 71

**- Xenon -**

< 200 EXP Gained ! >

< 200 EXP Gained ! >

< [Empower] has leveled up! >

< +1 DEX Gained! >

I woke up feeling nothing but pain all over my body. That last [Empower] I used to slay Andrew only added insult to injury; my body was already at its wits end from overexertion. Alas, I could only soldier on and try to forget the pain. We've still got much to get done, and I'm sure everyone else is feeling the same as me, just not at the same intensity.

On a happier note, I got 1 DEX for all my troubles, and 200 EXP for killing Tomas and Andrew... If that's not the System's way of telling me I should start killing more people, I don't know what is...

Today we would resume moving the bodies out of the way. Though on a less happy note, a few walkers have approached the prison from outside. Which reminded me of what happened in the TV Show... The fences could not hold large hordes, especially when their numbers increased continuously... Their constant collisions with the fences would eventually weaken their structural integrity due to fatigue. This means we would have to devise some other way to attract their attention, block them, or fortify the fences somehow... I had a few ideas (mainly wooden spikes outside) but this requires further discussions with the others.

We spent the rest of the day moving corpses out of the way. We did use one of the trucks to move them after covering the inside with plastic covers. It sped up the work considerably, so we were able to finish by the time the day ended. We didn't fancy working at night. Visibility was severely diminished which made us prone to make more mistakes. Not to mention how vulnerable we'd be to ambushes if we're already absorbed in a task. We preferred doing indoor work instead before going to sleep.

"So, who's gonna go get Rick and the others?" Andrea asked when we were having the last meal of the day.

"Anyone in particular wants to be there?" I asked offhandedly.

"I'd like to go." Glenn shrugged.

"Of course you do." Andrea chuckled, rolling her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Glenn asked defensively, though everyone in the know looked at him incredulously.

"You know, Glenn, you're not nearly as sneaky as you think you are..." I laughed at him.

"Is it official yet, or are you guys just casual?" Theodore asked him, doing his best to stop his laughter. Glenn was getting flustered for no reason and everybody thought it was hilarious.

"Ahem, we... went out once..." Glenn mumbled under his breath, though I could see the regret on his face immediately as he realized he could not keep his mouth shut, which only provided more teasing material for the others.

"On a more serious note though, I guess you'd want to go as well, Shane?" I turned to him.

"Yeah." He nodded. "I'll stay with Carl until he's doing better."

"So, it'll be Glenn, Shane, and myself then." I nodded. Once the last part registered with them, they gave me questioning looks.

"You wanna go too?" Amy asked.

"Yeah. I'm gonna try talking some sense into the old man." I shrugged.

"Good luck with that." Jim nodded. "Hershel is rather set on his ways."

"Isn't that always the problem with older people..." Andrea shook her head wryly.

"You guys are talking about Hershel the farmer?" Randall blurted out, though his face lost all colors when everybody turned to him with a death glare. Alarms rings sounded all over my mind as soon as I heard his words; it finally clicked, what I had been missing all that time. Randall... Isn't that the guy that Shane killed at the end of the second season? The name did sound familiar and I wasn't completely certain of my assumption, but there is an easy way to confirm it.

"You know Hershel?" Jim asked him calmly, yet there was undisguised wariness on his face. Randall nodded uncertainly.

"Let me guess, you went to school with his daughter Maggie?" I asked offhandedly, and he latched on it like his last hope it seems as he saw it as his way out of a rather hairy situation.

"You guys were in the same class or something?" I asked him 'curiously', doing my best to school my expressions, though he was unaware of the deathtrap he was walking straight into.

"Yeah." He nodded eagerly.

"Really?" I had a thoughtful expression on my face. "How old did you say you were again? Sixteen right?" He stopped making any sounds when he noticed his big screw-up, the gears in his mind turning at full speed. Out of the corner of my vision, I noticed how ashen Dave's face was, probably cursing Randall's ancestors for his stupidity.

"Now that doesn't add up, does it?" I asked Glenn with a frown. "How old was Maggie again?"

"She is twenty-one." Glenn answered, turning to glare at the other two, everyone understood what was happening, including the two prisoners that were looking at him suspiciously.

"You better start talking, and start talking fast, cuz I'm running out of patience." Shane reached out for his gun.

"I told him to lie about his age." Dave interrupted more calmly than he should be feeling.

"Because we are more likely to trust a teenager than a grown man." I said for him. "You wanted us to take pity on him, yes?"

"Guilty as charged." He raised his hand with a smile on his face.

"That makes me wonder..." I narrowed my eyes. "What else are you guilty of, Mr. Wilson?"

"Only of being of desperate and wanting a better place to stay." He said defensively.

"Yeaaaaah... I don't believe you." I shook my head wryly. "Now, you gotta look at this from our perspective." I took out my gun and loaded it. "We can either let you, two potential moles, live among our friends, family, children..." I pointed the gun at him. "Or we can kill you right now and save everybody from all trouble you could bring."

"You'd have an innocent man's blood on your hands just because you were too afraid to give him a chance?" He asked me angrily, taking two steps closer, letting my gun touch his forehead. "Of course you would." He spat out. "You're a fucking kid. You wouldn't know because you haven't been taught the value of human life, have you?"

"You're good..." I smirked. "Very good. Honestly, you have my respect at the very least. If I wasn't going to kill you, I'd ask you to teach me how you bullshit your way out of everything."

"There might be another way." Jim said, though this time, I wasn't the only one to turn to glare at him. Shane, Daryl, Theodore, and even Andrea did.

"Jim..." Shane warned him.

"Don't worry, I won't suggest setting him free or anything like that. I myself don't trust him anymore." Jim reassured. "I just wanted to remind you... We are in a prison, aren't we?"

"You want us to lock them up?" Andrea asked.

"Yeah."

"Why should we waste our food and water on them?" Daryl snarled.

"No, hold on... That's not such a bad idea." Shane mused out loud. "I'm sure we can eventually make them talk..." He exchanged a look with Daryl, before the latter's expression turned downright evil, giving the chills to both our new captives.

"Today is your lucky day, it seems..." I chuckled.

**- Narrator -**

Xenon was pleasantly surprised by the group's progress. He expected more resistance since he himself believed Dave's reasoning was extremely plausible. But he was glad he was having such an impact on them.

Dave and Randall were locked in the other cell-block on the different ends to prevent them from communicating with each other.

"Are we just going to leave them there?" Daryl asked us in confusion.

"No." I shook my head. "You're free to try and make them talk if you want. Just make sure not to kill them."

"You got it." Daryl cracked his knuckles gleefully, while Xenon just shook his head and went to sleep.

The next day could not come early enough for Shane. He was getting increasingly worried about Rick and his family and wanted to rush there as soon as possible. They drove off early the next day in Xenon's van, just in case they found something to transport along the way, unaware of the crisis Rick and the others were dealing with back at Hershel's farm.